Breathe Hope In Me
by Seph Meadowes
Summary: Today was Robert Lockwood's funeral and being the worst son in the existence of mankind, Tyler did not show up. Slight Tyler/Caroline. Post-finale.


_Tyler Jacob Lockwood! Where are you?_

Without replying, Tyler deleted the text and the other sixty-plus messages in his inbox. All from his mother who he was sure was more than frantic at the moment.

His mother had always been a little neurotic. When he was a kid, she didn't allow him to play outside because it would get his clothes dirty, made him arrange his shoe drawer and kept him under a strictly nutritious (fucking disgusting) diet. Those things were just some of the light stuff his nanny had to remember lest she ignite the wrath of Carol Lockwood and get deported back where she came from or never find employment again.

Carol Lockwood was a vicious woman when it came down to it.

He groaned inwardly as his phone vibrated in his pocket, telling him he just got another message. Fishing it out of, he placed it carelessly on the hospital room's green couch, letting the miserable thing vibrate to its heart's content.

With another groan, he shrugged off the black coat of his suit and let it drape on the couch.

Today was Robert Lockwood's funeral and being the worst son in the existence of mankind, Tyler did not show up.

Well, no, he did show up, it's just the moment he arrived there at the graveyard, seeing all of Mystic Falls come to bid his father goodbye and his mother standing beside the casket…

He couldn't seem to get himself to get out of the car and all he knew was that he needed to get out there and before he knew it, he was driving away. He didn't really have an exact location in mind, he just kept his eyes on the road and drove, eyeing the closed shops and empty streets.

He knew his father was a popular man, he was such a successful politician that everyone deemed it right to make that day a holiday. As if he was Elvis or the Pope or someone not as insignificant as a small town mayor.

He kept driving and thinking and for some odd reason, he found himself at the hospital. The same one where he waited in its lobby, waiting to hear what was Caroline Forbes condition and the same one where he learned about his father's death via phone call.

He lied, not everyone was at the funeral. Hospitals couldn't very well be empty with all the sick and dying people inside. Though there were few and far in between, Mystic Falls was too small to have any real emergencies.

Well, it used to be anyway.

Because if it was, Caroline Forbes would not be lying on a hospital bed, recovering from a surgery a few days ago and he certainly wouldn't be sitting on a chair beside her bed, staring at her pale and asleep face.

He was acting like some wimpy romantic hero from those trashy novels his nanny read (with titles like 'Take Me' and 'Sweet Surrender') and he hated it.

He was Tyler Jacob Lockwood.

He didn't do mushy or romantic. He did witty comebacks and offensive remarks.

But he also didn't used to run away from anything, no matter how tough it was and look at him now.

He couldn't even go to his own father's funeral.

Everyone was right. He _was_ a dick.

Another sigh and he rested his elbows on his knees, all the while massaging his temples and trying to soothe the oncoming headache. For a moment, all he could focus on was his breathing, the itch on his neck from the collar of his button-down shirt and the sound of the machine in the room used for monitoring heartbeats.

_Beep. Beep. _

Deep breathe. Inhale. Exhale.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

"Tyler?"

Another breathe. Inhale. Exh-

"Tyler?"

He froze and looked up at wide-eyed at the clearly now awake blonde before him, her blue eyes half-lidded with sleep, her blonde curls messy and her lips chapped.

This was Caroline Forbes, the girl he's known his whole life. The five year old girl who punched him when he tried to make her cry, the ten year old girl he tried to copy test answers from in English class, the fifteen year old girl who convinced him to jump naked in the lake when they first got high at Duke's party, the seventeen year old girl who was dating his best friend…

He pushed thoughts of Matt at the back of his mind and ran for the nurse.

A little white later, he was back to his seat on the uncomfortable metal chair, a mostly awake Caroline staring back at him. He'd given her a brief summary of things that had happened while she was sleeping and answered her few questions. But he wasn't going to tell her about–

"My dad's dead." The words escaped from his mouth but it felt like it wasn't him talking. He hadn't meant to say that but the words just got out and then they just kept pouring out. "Today's his funeral, I didn't go."

"Oh."

Just that, no "I'm sorry, Tyler!"s or "You poor thing! Robert Lockwood was such a good man!"s, he sincerely wanted to laugh at the last one. Robert Lockwood may have been a good politician, a good mayor, a fucking good actor and fucking terrible dad but 'good man' was debatable.

"How do you feel?" Caroline asked. And maybe it was her tired blue eyes, her disheveled state so different from her so put together appearance because he didn't give her the usual responses, the "I'm fine, now fuck off"s or "None of your damn business"s.

"Numb," He couldn't feel, probably the denial preventing it from all sinking in yet. Because it didn't feel real that Robert Lockwood was dead, it didn't feel right that Mystic Falls didn't have a mayor anymore, it didn't...it was just all wrong. And a part of him kept insisting that this was all just a terrible nightmare he'd wake up from very soon.

"Why is that?"

He just shrugged and hoped the matter would be dropped like that but he forgot that he was dealing with Caroline Forbes, the same girl who walked around their high school like she owned the place and always got her way.

"_Tyler_."

Just his name and he was caving in. Why did she always have to have her way? And more importantly, why did he _always_ follow her wishes?

"I'm actually really angry with myself." He continued at the "Why?" written all over her face. "It was my fault. My dad's death, I mean."

They'd told him it was a freak accident, some faulty wiring and a fire started in the building where his father was in, trying to save some of those people inside. They painted him in such a heroic light it was almost unrealistic. But they told him, no one was to be blamed, things like that just happened. No explanations at all.

Though deep down, he knew that if anyone was to be blamed, it was _him_.

If only he'd just gone home and not been so rebellious, if only his dad wouldn't have given him his car then he'd probably just gone home, if only he didn't leave and persisted to stay then he could've been able to do something, _anything_ to save his dad. If only, if only…

"You're an idiot."

He blinked in surprise at the blunt statement.

Caroline had always been painfully honest to a point that was considered rude by most. It was a trait he shared with her.

He was about to ask why but she cut him off.

"It's not your fault. Don't be stupid and self-deprecating." Her eyes, though tired, understood, oddly enough. "Your dad's death is not your fault. So, don't blame yourself, Tyler." She gave an almost cheeky smile reminiscent of her five year old self. "And since when did Tyler Lockwood take the blame for anything?"

"Since very recently, it seems."

Her smile widened a fraction and her hand suddenly reached out to grab his hand. Hers was soft and small compared to his, delicate even with her manicured nails. "Cheer up, Ty. At least you're not in a hospital bed recovering from a critical surgery." True. "But if it makes any difference, I really am sorry about your dad. I know you must miss him." Like she wouldn't believe. "But your strong, Tyler, you'll get through this."

She was strong too, he wanted to say. Here she was lying in a hospital bed after a narrow escape from death and yet she was the one comforting him and trying to make him feel better instead of the other way around. She was putting his need before her own.

"Thank you."

She looked at him in confusion.

"For….whatever that was."

She only smiled and he understood that it was a "You're welcome".

He smiled back.

* * *

**Too mushy? Sorry.**

**This was written for the fanfic wish list over at the vampire forums. I combined #2, 3, 16.**

**2. Genuine smile from Tyler.**

**3. Caroline shows support for Tyler in his time of grief.  
**

**16. Tyler visiting Caroline after surgery.  
**

**The title is taken from A Day to Remember song.**


End file.
